Nationally-ranked teams Oakleaf (Orange Park) & Gainesville are 1-2 in regional rankings
Gainesville – The top teams in the Prep Zone Power Poll are not only highly ranked in the area and in the state.
They are both nationally-ranked too.
Oakleaf (Orange Park) remained a unanimous No. 1 in the regional softball rankings. The Knights (15-0), who went 3-0 last week, is ranked No. 1 in the Class 8A state rankings, No. 1 in the state’s all-classification rankings, and they are No. 2 in the country, according to MaxPreps. They received all eight first-place votes.
Gainesville, whose only loss was to Oakleaf, 2-1, moved up one spot to second in this week’s rankings. GHS (14-1) is ranked #2 in the 7A state poll, 5th in Florida’s all-classification rankings and 11th nationally.
Previous No. 2 West Nassau (Callahan), which went 1-4 last week, including 1-3 at the Gulliver Prep Slam Fest in Miami, dropped four spots to sixth. The Warriors (13-4) lost to state-ranked teams Jupiter (9A), Fort Myers Bishop Verot (4A) and current No. 11 Forest (Ocala). However, they also lost to unranked Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville).
That opened the door for Belleview to move up two spots to third. The Rattlers (12-1), who went 3-0 last week, are currently ranked third in the state in Class 6A.
Despite being off last week, South Sumter (Bushnell) moved up five spots to fourth. The Raiders (11-1) are now ranked second in the state in Class 5A.
Rounding out the top five is Deltona, which is receiving votes in Class 7A. The Wolves (11-1) defeated Seabreeze (Daytona Beach) but lost 3-0 at New Smyrna Beach, which is receiving votes in this week’s poll.
Rounding out the top 10 behind West Nassau is Baker County (Glen St. Mary) (9-3) at No. 7, followed by Ponte Vedra (13-3), Chiefland (12-1) and Clay (Green Cove Springs) (9-3).
Suwannee (Live Oak) and Montverde Academy (12-1) move into the rankings at Nos. 16 & 19th, respectively.
The Prep Zone Power Poll ranks the top 20 high school football, basketball, baseball & softball teams (regardless of FHSAA classification) across 26 counties in North Florida (Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lake, Levy, Madison, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, Sumter, St. Johns, Suwannee, Taylor, Union & Volusia counties). It is voted on weekly by sportswriters and sportscasters.
PREP ZONE POWER POLL – 2016 SOFTBALL POLL #4
(School, followed by classification, first-place votes, record through 3/12, and total voting points)
1. Oakleaf (Orange Park) (8A) (8) (15-0) – 160
2. Gainesville (7A) (14-1) – 155
3. Belleview (6A) (12-1) – 143
4. South Sumter (Bushnell) (5A) (11-1) – 122
5. Deltona (7A) (11-1) – 116
6. West Nassau (Callahan) (5A) (13-4) – 99
7T Baker County (Glen St. Mary) (5A) (9-3) – 94
7T Ponte Vedra (5A) (13-3) – 94
9. Chiefland (1A) (12-1) – 93
10. Clay (Green Cove Springs) (6A) (9-3) – 88
11. Forest (Ocala) (7A) (9-6) – 87
12. Nature Coast (Brooksville) (5A) (14-1) – 75
13. Spruce Creek (Port Orange) (9A) (11-3) – 66
14. Lafayette (Mayo) (1A) (14-3) – 58
15. Eustis (5A) (11-2) – 47
16. Suwannee (Live Oak) (5A) (12-3) – 43
17. Creekside (St. Johns) (7A) (8-4) – 38
18. University Christian (Jacksonville) (3A) (11-2) – 31
19. Montverde Academy (4A) (12-1) – 15
20. Aucilla Christian (Monticello) (2A) (6-3) – 11
Also receiving votes: Springstead (Spring Hill) (6A) (12-1) – 10; New Smyrna Beach (7A) (8-3) – 10; Fort White (1A) (13-0) – 8; Atlantic Coast (Jacksonville) (8A) (11-4) – 6; Orange Park (6A) (9-5) – 6; Lake Minneola (8A) (10-4) – 4; Dunnellon (6A) (11-5) – 2; Mandarin (Jacksonville) (9A) (11-3) – 1; Union County (Lake Butler) (1A) (9-3) – 1.
